Partnering with Market Research Experts: Unlocking Growth Opportunities in India
Updated: 1 day ago
The value of a research partner depends less on their tools than on whether they can reach the right people and tell you something you did not want to hear. In Indian B2B markets, that comes down to five checks you can make before you sign.
1. Can they reach decision-makers, not just whoever picks up the phone?
In industrial research the person who signs the purchase order, the engineer who specifies the product and the plant head who lives with the result are three different respondents. Ask how the partner builds the sample, and how they confirm each respondent's role in the buying decision.
2. Do they cover the languages and geographies you sell in?
A questionnaire answered in a second language produces polite, shallow answers. Ask which languages the interviewers work in and whether they have fielded in your industrial clusters before.
3. Are they independent of the answer?
A partner who also sells you consulting, software or advertising has a stake in what the research concludes. Ask how they handle findings that are unflattering to the client's own plans.
4. Will you see the raw data?
You should receive the respondent-level data, the questionnaire as fielded and the response counts, not only a slide deck. Without them you cannot check the conclusions or reuse the data next year.
5. What happens after the report?
The useful engagements end with a decision, not a document: a prioritised list of actions, an owner for each and a date to re-measure. See how BPMBC structures its research solutions from brief to action plan.
Writing a brief that gets a good proposal
Four lines are enough: the decision you need to make, who the research should hear from, where and in which languages, and by when. Proposals written against a clear brief are comparable. Proposals written against a vague one are not.
Related reading: The Research Brief That Saves Six Months and B2B Research in India: Why Global Methodologies Need Local Adaptation.
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